2013's Cultural Winners and Losers

Let's assess the winners in losers in American culture for 2013. Our
first obvious winner is "Duck Dynasty" and its Phil Robertson. He's a
winner for standing by his Christian principles after some inartful
remarks about homosexuality.

A&E suspended him and put the usual statement that they are
"champions" of the gay agenda -- and proceeded to start running "Duck
Dynasty" marathons. Mark Steyn put it just right: the gay-left
blacklisters insist "espousing conventional Christian morality, even
off-air, is incompatible with American celebrity." Robertson has
successfully shattered intolerance of the anti-Christian left.

Winner:
Universal Pictures, for "Despicable Me 2." This cartoon feature came in
third in 2013 at the box office ($367 million), beaten only by two
other much-anticipated sequels, "Iron Man 3" and the second "Hunger
Games" film. But in December, it shattered records for DVD sales for an
animated picture, grossing an amazing $80 million in its first week of
release. The previous record was held by....the first "Despicable Me."
There were three animated family films in the top ten hits, with G-rated
"Monsters University" in fifth ($263 million) and "Frozen" in tenth
($204 million after five weeks and climbing).

Loser: Universal Pictures, for "Kick-Ass 2." The ultraviolent first
installment featuring a 12-year-old "Hit Girl implausibly killing tens
of villains at a time grossed $48 million at the box office, a figure
that shouldn't inspire a sequel. The second edition grossed only $28
million. Entertainment Weekly found the immoral thrill of actress Chloe
Grace Moretz killing and swearing like a sailor had vanished. At 16,
she "can't manufacture the same that's-so-wrong jolt she managed the
first time around. Back then, it was hilariously taboo to see a little
girl spout arias of profanity." Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr nailed
it: "Kick-Ass 2 is a special kind of crap: the kind smart people make
for audiences they think are stupid."

Winner: Rockstar Games, the makers of the video game "Grand Theft Auto
V," which smashed six world sales records, including the highest revenue
generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours and the fastest
entertainment property to gross a billion dollars. They sold over 11
million copies in its first 24 hours and hit a billion in sales within
three days.

Loser: "GTA 5" is a perfect example of the amoral and ultraviolent
products that are never, ever advertised as such. Chris Suellentrop of
the New York Times, fan of the game, explained the latest version is
"still an action game about hoodlums and thieves; we start with an
extended bout of cop killing and proceed to a series of increasingly
ambitious heists." There are three villains you can choose to become,
like "Trevor, an oddly lovable psychopathic meth dealer and gun runner."
This is not "Breaking Bad," a series aimed at an adult audience. This
is a game bought by children.

Winner: Melissa McCarthy. This comic actress led the year's
highest-grossing R-rated movie, "The Heat" (alongside Sandra Bullock),
grossing almost $160 million, and "Identity Thief," which grossed over
$134 million. It is unfortunate that her humor needs to be laced with so
many profanities (they counted 269 in "The Heat") that the ratings
cops felt forced to give it an R.

Loser: Miley Cyrus. The former star of Disney's "Hannah Montana" turned
20 and became the star of a series of MTV-promoted outrages. Her antics
are a grotesque perversion of her former innocence. She is disgusting.

Speaking of losers, Cher told USA today she would have supported Cyrus
is she'd come out naked and performed well, but "It just wasn't done
well. She can't dance, her body looked like hell, the song wasn't
great." She seemed to miss the point. Miley went viral precisely because
it was an ugly train wreck.

Loser: "The Fifth Estate." Disney executives bit on this picture
glorifying leftist WikiLeaks creep Julian Assange. It cost $28 million
to make, and grossed only $3.2 million. How bad was it? Its opening
grossed only $1.7 million from 1,769 theaters -- the worst opening of
the year for a movie opening in more than 1,500 theaters. Maybe this
will save us from Hollywood following its "progressive" heart and making
an Edward Snowden-glorifying "The Fifth Estate 2." .

Loser: Robert Reich. He's no Al Gore or Michael Moore in the
documentary sweepstakes. His socialist lecture/film "Inequality for All"
grossed only $1.19 million, despite Reich calling it an "Inconvenient
Truth for the economy" and touting it won an award at a film festival in
Traverse City, Michigan. Reich told The Boston Globe "This is the last
hurrah. If this doesn't educate the public, I give up."